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Initial Conditions and State Political Competition

Initial Conditions and State Political Competition

Chapter:

(p.60)
Chapter 3 Initial Conditions and State Political Competition

Source:

The Evolution of a Nation

Author(s):

Daniel Berkowitz

Karen B. Clay

Publisher:

Princeton University Press

DOI:10.23943/princeton/9780691136042.003.0003

This chapter investigates the relationship between five initial conditions in states—temperature, precipitation, distance to oceans, distance to rivers and lakes, and colonial legal system—and long-run levels of state political competition. State political competition is measured by examining the division of seats in the legislature between the political parties, although a number of other measures of state political competition are also examined. This chapter sketches some relationships between initial conditions and state political competition. It emphasizes the importance of state political competition, because it is thought to lead to better economic and social outcomes. In fact, there is a strong positive association between the extent of political competition and outcomes.

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PRINTED FROM PRINCETON SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.princeton.universitypressscholarship.com). (c) Copyright Princeton University Press, 2018. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a monograph in HSO for personal use (for details see www.princeton.universitypressscholarship.com/page/privacy-policy).date: 19 November 2018